Wines of Chateau

Château Ausone
1er Grand Cru Classé “A”
Appellation Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

En chiffres

Surface area: 7.25 Ha

Production: 18000 bottles

Geology : Clay-sand-limestone soils – Limestone plateau with asteria and on the clay-limestone slopes

Grape varieties : 55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot

Maturing : Traditional fermentation in oak vats followed by 20 months in barrels

Within the Saint Emilion appellation, Château Ausone is one of only two wines (the other being Château Cheval Blanc), to be ranked as Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine. The winery is located on the right bank of the Bordeaux wine region in the Gironde department. For several years, Ausone was jointly owned by the Dubois-Challon and Vauthier families, but after a period of unsettlement, feuding in the courts was brought to an end when the Vauthiers bought the DuboisChallon shares in the mid 1990s. Alain Vauthier became managing director of Ausone, while Heylette Dubois-Challon won the right to continue to live in the chateau until her death, in 2003. The success of the wine produced at Ausone is attributed to a combination of exposure and the soil, a mixture of sand and clay on limestone unique to the district. The vineyard is 7 hectares (17 acres), arranged with the grape varieties of 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot, planted with a density of 6,500 plants per hectare. Due to the small scale of the vineyards, picking may be done at an optimal moment, usually in two afternoons. Of both the Grand Vin and the second wine – Chapelle d’Ausone – the annual production averages little more than 2,000 cases.

Environmental Approach: Biodynamic viticulture (not certified)

Website : www.chateau-ausone.fr